WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jan. 17, 2025 — Distracted driving and other reckless behaviors kill tens of thousand of people on U.S. roads each year. Beginning on Sunday, January 20, the National Distracted Driving Coalition (NDDC) joins We Save Lives, the National Road Safety Foundation, and other prominent safety organizations and entities in reminding passengers that they can and should speak up when their driver is distracted, impaired by drugs or alcohol, or otherwise driving recklessly.  The annual National Passenger Safety Week runs through January 27, 2025.

A recent analysis from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests distracted driving plays a role in nearly one in three crash deaths, making it as big of a problem as other longstanding road safety problems like alcohol-impaired driving and speeding. Many times, the lives lost in these crashes are passengers or other road users that aren’t the ones making a conscious choice to drive distracted. In 2022, about a quarter of deaths in passenger vehicle crashes – more than 6000 people – involved vehicle occupants other than drivers, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Recent data suggests that many passengers don’t speak up as often as they should when their driver is distracted. A survey of 1,200 teen drivers found that only 35 percent reported speaking up at least half the time when their driver was using a phone while driving, and one third of respondents said they never speak up.

We Save Lives and the National Road Safety Foundation are encouraging people to make the “Courage to Intervene” promise and to speak up or bow out of a ride when the driver is impaired, distracted, or otherwise driving recklessly.

Learn more about National Passenger Safety Week and make the “Courage to Intervene” promise at www.nationalpassengersafety.org.